Cauldron Thickness
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: Percy receives an assignment to look into the international standardisation of cauldron thickness.


Percy looked down at the report in his hand once more, wondering how it was that he was supposed to write a full-fledged report about the thickness of cauldrons, a subject about which he had absolutely no desire to write about or any sort of interest _in_.

But his boss had left the report waiting on Percy's desk, with the due date (much too close already for Percy's liking) written in the corner in bright red ink, like the report was a bad essay, already graded harshly, which did nothing to relieve Percy's stress.

Sighing, as the realisation that there was just nothing else to be done washed over the eighteen year old, he bent over his desk to begin working, wondering if this was the sort of nonsense work they gave all the new employees, or if he was once again being punished for his familial status.

It wouldn't surprise Percy at all to find this to be the truth; he had already noticed that many of the other workers in the Department of International Cooperation seemed to look down on Percy. They spoke in slower tones, as though he would not understand, and found no end of pointless errands for him to run every day, laughing whenever Percy was forced to come back in defeat and admit that the things he had been sent out to fetch did not exist.

Apparently, his co-workers didn't seem to realise who they were working with, though. Percy Weasley was not the sort to give up, no matter what, and so, it was with determination that he came to work every day, ready for whatever ridiculous projects or assignments he was given to do. He would show everyone in the department that he was loyal and hardworking, and that there was nothing that they could do to him to keep Percy down.

"Hey, Weasley, what did they give you to do this time?" asked Percy's co-worker, a pinch-faced man with tousled light hair and a smirk that reached his eyes. The co-worker was named Gene, and he was a good four years older than Percy, a fact that seemed to make the older man believe that he had some right to pick on Percy every single day, as though they were still school children, bullying each other to show dominance.

"A report on cauldron thickness, if you absolutely _must _know," Percy replied shortly, reading through the file and beginning his notes. "Cardington seems to think we've got a need for standardisation. He believes that some of the foreign imports just don't make the cut, and according to _this _particular hand-out I'm looking at now, this lack of standards has been leading to an increase in leakage, nearly _three percent_ every year!"

No one had or could ever accuse Percy Weasley of not throwing himself into his work whenever and however he could. As ridiculous as a report about the need for standardised cauldron thickness sounded, it was an assignment he had been given by the Department of International Cooperation, and it was simply just in Percy's nature to do the best that he could, no matter what. It seemed that Gene did not hold to quite the same philosophy.

"_Very _interesting, Weasley, if I do say so myself," Gene said, pretending to yawn, though even Percy could see that, behind the hand clapped over his mouth, the twenty-two year old was chuckling at Percy. "I'm sure that this particular report will absolutely _revolutionize _the way cauldrons are made from here on out. In fact, Weasley, I'm sure you'll even get _promoted _over something like this! Imagine, in a few years, they might make you the _head director _of cauldron standards. How exciting does _that _sound, eh, Weasley?"

"Laugh all you want, but this is clearly an important matter of business, if they have taken me away from my very busy schedule to write this particular report. I mean, look at this, Burnham, just look at this _exact_ paper right here. It says that almost _half _of all cauldron burns are directly linked to the fact that the cauldrons we are currently getting from France just aren't up to scratch," Percy replied, holding up a rather thick paper, to which Gene wrinkled his nose.

"Listen, Weasley, you might think that writing stupid reports about the thickness of cauldrons is the way to go to get noticed by the big guys upstairs, but let me tell you, all of this is nothing more than busywork. They're just trying to shove the stuff they don't want to do onto you, because you're new and you don't know better, and you're just the sort of happy, eager little kid they _need _to get away with doing things like this," Gene said, uncharacteristically looking sympathetic as he patted Percy's arm. "Trust me, they do the same sort of thing to every new guy. It's just the sort of thing that the _upper_ of the department gets away with all the time."

"No, you're wrong," Percy said tartly, turning back to his desk in order to tune Gene out. It was just like him to try and distract Percy from his work in order to make the eighteen year old look bad and lazy, but not this time. Percy was _not _going to let anyone get to him, and he _would _finish this report so that the entire department would see that he, Percy Weasley, was up for anything they might throw his way. "They wouldn't just hand out useless assignments. It'd be a waste of everyone's time."

"Why do you think they give 'em to the newest, then? It's because the rest of us aren't stupid enough to think that all we need is this _one _assignment to get the whole department to notice that we exist," Gene said, but Percy was already tuning him out, focusing instead on the work before him, of which he had plenty, enough to fill up his whole day, even beyond completing more researching about these blasted cauldrons. "Trust me, after you finish with your cauldron crap, they're only going to throw it away, because no one, _no one_, cares about cauldron thickness."

"Well, if you really feel that way, then I'm sorry, Burnham, but you've clearly just become blind to how important each and every piece of work is. After all, it is the job, nay the _duty _of the Department of International Cooperation to make sure that everyone throughout the Wizarding World is on good terms and that nothing goes wrong. And if we end up fighting with, say, _France_ ten years down the road, I don't want to feel that it was because no one addressed the issue of cauldron thickness and its need to be standardised," Percy replied.

"Fine, whatever," Gene growled, throwing his hands up in the air with an exasperated sigh. "You want to be a waste of everyone's time, then that's fine with me, Weasley. See if I care when it turns out that all your hard work was for absolutely nothing, and that you're just like everyone one else in this office; _expendable _and useless, just one among many. But if you want to keep wasting your time, then I guess I'll leave you to your cauldron thickness."

"Thank you," Percy replied, not even looking up at Gene stomped off, heading back to his desk as Percy continued to hunch over the stack of information he had to go over. This was _very _alarming, he thought, reading over one particular article about the sudden increase in home-brewed potions that had ended up burning through the floorboards. After all, the department would never give him a useless assignment, so this report _had _to be important. Lifesaving, even, if these reports he was scouring had any real credibility. "I _can _do this," he mumbled to himself.

Clearly, Percy had gotten this particular assignment just in time, and, like always, he would make those who had given the assignment to him proud, no matter what it took.


End file.
